One Disease Mosquitoes Don't Spread: Coronavirus

Robert Preidt
Posted July 29, 2020

One Disease Mosquitoes Don't Spread: Coronavirus

Although scientists haven't nailed down how the new coronavirus jumped to humans, a new study confirms mosquitoes aren't to blame -- and you won't get COVID-19 from a mosquito bite.

"While the World Health Organization has definitively stated that mosquitoes cannot transmit the virus, our study is the first to provide conclusive data supporting the theory," said study author Stephen Higgs. He is director of the Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI) at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.

The researchers found that the new coronavirus can't replicate in three common species of mosquitoes -- Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus -- and therefore cannot be transmitted to humans.

The study was published recently in the journal Scientific Reports.

"I am proud of the work we are doing at K-State to learn as much as we can about this and other dangerous pathogens," Higgs said in a Kansas State news release.

BRI is a biosecurity level-3 facility, and researchers at BRI have completed four additional studies on COVID-19 since March.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.